Sunday afternoon’s basketball game at Timmons Arena was an affair of fits and starts, streaks and slumps.

The second half was, anyway.

 Redshirt sophomore Asa Thomas scored a career-best 25 points and freshman Alex Wilkins added 23 and a career-high eight rebounds to lead Furman to its fifth consecutive victory with an 84-76 triumph over Charleston Southern.

The victory, Furman’s eighth in its last nine games, improved the Paladins to 9-4. Charleston Southern dropped to 8-6 after having its three-game winning streak snapped by the Paladins.

Trailing by a point at the intermission, Furman roared out of the locker room to outscore the Buccaneers 31-11 as they built a 65-46 lead with 10:47 to play.

Charleston Southern answered with a 27-6 spurt of its own to pull ahead 73-71 on A’lahn Sumler’s basket with 3:46 to go, but Furman held the Buccaneers without a field goal until three seconds remained.

Thomas hit 1/2 free throws to trim the margin to one point and drained a turnaround jumper from the right side with three minutes remaining to put the Paladins in front for good. The Lake Forest, Ill., product fed Charles Johnston for a layup to extend the lead to five points and drained his sixth three-pointer on the next offensive possession to give the Paladins a 79-73 advantage with 1:32 left. After stopping the Bucs on the next two possessions, Furman converted on 5/6 trips to the foul line in the final 16 seconds to close out the win.

Thomas went 8/14 from the floor, including 6/10 from three-point range, to reach his career high, while Wilkins connected on 8/17 shots from the field and 6/9 free throw attempts. The duo was joined in double figures by Ben Vander Wal, who added 13 points to go with six rebounds and three steals.

Cooper Bowser, who limped off the court with 5:21 remaining at Manhattan, did not see action against the Buccaneers.

 The Paladins, who went 10/25 from behind the arc and shot .443 from the floor, connected on .517 in the second half shots and made 7/14 three-point attempts to outscore the Bucs 50-41 in the second half. Furman’s defense held Charleston Southern to 76 points on .431 shooting after CSU entered the game having scored 107 points per game over its last three outings.

Sumler led Charleston Southern with 26 points, while Jesse Hafemeister scored 14 and Jacob Taylor 12.

Furman limited the Bucs’ leading scorer, Brycen Blaine, to three points. Charleston Southern entered the game making 14 triples per game but connected on just 9/34.

Furman returns to action when it hosts Mercer in the Southern Conference opener for both schools on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at Timmons Arena for a noon start.

Take a look at the stats here.

Furman went for continuity in its men’s soccer program, promoting associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Brandon Tucker to head coach.

 Tucker, a native of Englewood, Colo., replaces Doug Allison, who retired following his 31^st year in charge of the Paladin program. In nine seasons working under Allison, the last three as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, Tucker helped lead Furman to a 92-49-26 overall record, 32-13-9 Southern Conference mark, three SoCon regular-season titles, three league tournament crowns, three NCAA Tournament berths and the school’s first trip to the NCAA Men’s College Cup. The Furman coaching staff has earned back-to-back United Soccer Coaches South Region Staff of the Year honors and was named national coaching staff of the year following the 2025 season.

Tucker helped guide the Paladins to a historic season in 2025 as Furman posted a 16-2-5 record, claimed the SoCon regular season and tournament titles, climbed to No. 1 in the Top Drawer Soccer Top 25 for the first time in program history and made its first run to the College Cup. The Paladins went undefeated in league play to claim the regular-season title before downing nationally-ranked UNC Greensboro in the SoCon title game at Stone Stadium. After receiving its first-ever bye and national seed in the NCAA Tournament, the 16^th seeded Paladins toppled Western Michigan and advanced past Hofstra on penalty kicks to reach the Elite Eight for the second time in school history. Furman took down No. 8 seed Portland on the road to reach the NCAA College Cup before falling to the Washington Huskies in the national semifinals.

“For the past 10 years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Doug Allison, someone who has shaped not only this program, but countless lives within and around it. Coach Allison’s 31 seasons of leadership have built a legacy defined by excellence, character and traditions, and it is humbling to carry that forward.”

Tucker has helped the Paladins land top-30 recruiting classes in each of the last five years, including a seventh-ranked class in 2025 and 12th-ranked class in 2023. In his nine years with the Furman program, he has helped produce three SoCon Players of the Year, four goalkeepers of the year, and has helped recruit two players who have been SoCon Freshman of the Year.

 Tucker played his college soccer for Paladin associate head coach Bret Boulware at Presbyterian College prior to embarking on a professional career.

 Tucker graduated from Presbyterian in 2007 with a degree in business administration and a concentration in management. He and his wife Anastashia are the parents of four children, Skie, Harper, Sawyer and Asher. 

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